Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Sweet Potato, Kale & Coconut Curry

Lately I've been experimenting with new recipes to try and get me out of a rut of eating the same old things all the time. It's easy just to chuck some chicken in the oven & veg in the steamer, but eating clean doesn't have to be boring. One of my favourite dishes at the moment is my sweet potato, kale and coconut curry. Even Gordon likes it! It seems to be fairly popular when I mention it on twitter or instagram too so I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

It was inspired by this BBC Good Food one but I've adapted it to make it more natural and much healthier. Kale is a bit of a buzz world in the health and fitness world at the moment - it's considered a superfood as it's a good source of calcium, iron, vitamin K, vitamin C and beta carotene, which apparently reduces the risk of cancer and age-related macular degeneration. Sweet potato is a complex carb meaning it fuels the body with slow releasing energy, plus they're packed with nutrients. Obviously the chicken adds muscle building protein to the mix, but if you're vegetablarian just skip the poultry and increase the amount of lentils for your protein fix. Everything is cooked together in one pot so it's really simple to make as well.

3 x medium sweet potatoes

1 x large onion

4tbsp red split lentils

400g chicken

100g frozen peas

100g kale

1 x tin of chopped tomatoes

1 x tin of coconut milk

1 handful fresh coriander

1tbsp ground ginger

1tbsp ground turmeric

1tsp whole cumin

salt & pepper to taste

Being totally honest, I never measure ingredients so this is just a rough guide. You can increase or decrease the amount of any ingredient to suit your own tastes. Garam masala is always a good addition too!

Heat the spices with a teaspoon of coconut oil before adding the chicken, lentils, onion and sweet potato to the pan, then stir to coat in the spices and allow it to fry for a couple of minutes. Pour in the tinned tomatoes and coconut milk and mix together, bring it to the boil and leave it to simmer for about 20 minutes. Add the peas, kale, coriander and seasoning then bring to the boil, simmer for another 5-10 minutes and that's it! Told you it was easy.

You can serve the curry with brown rice or quinoa but it's just as good on it's own, especially if you mash up the sweet potato to thicken it up a bit!

I'm also loving Deliciously Ella for food inspiration at the moment - if you like this recipe, you'll love hers. What are your favourite healthy meals?